This article will explain how to set up and manage your area of operation. The area of operation allows you to manage how far your fleet travels when operating on distance rates. You need to set this up before you can set up your distance rates.
Go to the “Locations & Rates” tab in your upper menu, expand the location menu. Locate the area of operation section then select the 3 dots on the right and select "edit".
Setting up an Area of operation
First you need to set up a central zone. Your central zone is where all your transfers must either start or finish. You need to enter a set of coordinates to mark the very centre of your central zone, we call these 'Latitude' and 'Longitude'.
If you don't know these coordinates, there is a link to a tool in the "Tip text" you can use to find these out. You can also access the tool here. Below is a video that shows how to use the tool.
Second, you need to set the radius of your central zone. You can use the same tool you used to calculate your central zone coordinates if you're not sure. Below is a video showing how to do this.
Next you need to set the maximum distance you can travel from / to the central zone (counted from its centre - coordinates). You can use the same tool as before to work this out.
Finally you'll need to choose a lead time, be aware that increasing lead time will affect booking volumes. Important! - When setting up your area of operation make sure you can reach the furthest point within the selected lead time.
To help explain how the area of operation works with distance rates, we've included some examples below.
Examples:
Blue Circle = Central zone (here: 10Km)
Green Circle = Furthest Distance (here: 100Km)
Possible journeys: To and from or within the Central zone, not further than max distance
Journeys not allowed: Starting/finishing outside of the central zone or exceeding the furthest distance limit
Once completed simply press the submit button and you'll see a summary of these details. You can revisit and edit these at any time.